Forums >Racing>The Waltons aka Advanced Half Marathon Training Thread - 2022 edition
Intl. correspondent
Fred - Thanks for the race report, it's always interesting to read what other people find important.For instance I have never thought about north south coordinates regarding races but it seems you Mark and Watson put some importance to it. I also don't mind the wind as much (being so heavy I suppose the wind affects me less)You ran that race very well paced and kudos for resisting temptation of going earlier.
DW - I'm happy to see you took first place, very well executed race, it looks like you will be back to your speedster days once the mechanical issues are diminished.I also like that you write a report for every race, and akin to how when I was reading Fred's report, it's nice to see what other people pay attention to.
Caitlin - That kind of workouts would better suit somebody who's already super fast who need to extract the last droplet of performance (Somebody like Jmac or Mark). People like you and me, with a history of injuries will largely benefit more from always being slightly under-trained but healthy, which leads to consistency which is what leads to improvement.For a 10k you're probably much better with the top workout being 4 x 12 minutes @ current 10k pace.Also, reminder to train at current pace, not target pace.
Zeb - Good lord nearly 13 hours of workout. You're the energizer batteries of this board.
Keen - Can you remind us again of the rationale behind the 1h21 target? I've checked that workout 7x 1 mile at 10k and it lead me to believe a 1h23 was in the works.Also, have you considered at all that maybe you are over training? Looking from afar it seems you always do very well in training but comparatively poorly in races.
Steve - You will very likely feel like brand new for that race. Stay patient, you have the aerobic development,your body will not forget it in such short time. You will probably be skeptical right now but you will see that when you run your last workout 10 days before the race.
Now that the symptoms are much lower your body is winning the fight and the enemy should be routed out pretty soon. So the more you rest and sleep the quicker you will recover. And now you have the best immunity there is.
PRs: 1500 4:54.1 2019 - 5K 17:53 2023 - 10K 37:55 2023 - HM 1:21:59 2021
Up next: some 800m race (or time trials) / Also place in the top 20% in a trail race
Tool to generate Strava weekly
Caitlin - I was aiming for a Half mid-May, but that's been moved to Sept. So will just concentrate on the Cross Country season from May to August. 4 big races of about 8km each over that time. Although to be honest, I really just enjoy day-to-day running and training, so I haven't suffered as much as other runners who have been missing big events
Mark - Between the hills and the wind, it's actually really hard to do an easy run here in Wellington! But as a Wellingtonian, I feel a moral obligation/pressure to big a strong hill runner
Keen - Eldest is a boy, then from there all girls. The boy's actually left home, so it's just me and all the girls. If I still had long hair I'd probably be doing half my runs in plats (braids) or pig tails if the girls had their way!
Steve - The hardest part of getting out for a run is convincing my 4-yr old that she can't come with me! "But daddy, I can run 10km faster than you!"
50+ age-group PBs: Half Perish 1:24:24 (June '23 Road Race) - 10km 37:52 (2022 Local Road Champs) - Track 5km 18:49 (Aug '22) - Perish Run 3:17:42
2024 Goals: Boston Perish Run Sub 3:15 - Road/Track 10km Sub 37:30 - 5km Sub 18:20
Waltons ThreadLord
Hashiritai - That's a big spread between the kids. Beware the young one. My youngest, albeit now 15, is beating me in races of progressively longer distances.
Flavio - Thank you. That was my 36th half, so I like to think I'm starting to put that experience to use. What do you pay attention to when you race?
Steve - Thank you on both accounts (the race and the report). Knowing the course was pretty flat helped me plan ahead a bit. I'm developing a feel for when I can pick up my pace and not die before the finish. Glad you're recovering and hope your partner gets over it quickly.
Keen - Thank you, and congrats on your PR and your win.
Mark - How cold does it get for you in June? For me, November can be prime HM season. I can write you a letter of recommendation to submit to the DoW if you like. Small world, us both knowing Vitaly.
Ccoakley - Looks like you have about a 30-second spread between your 10k pace and HM pace. My spread is about 20 seconds and when I use the Hansons plan, I run distances similar to what you're talking about at HM pace minus 10 seconds. Perhaps that can give you some idea of what to run - maybe split the difference between the two paces? Glad you liked my report.
Zebano - Thank you. Knowing it was a flat course, I decided to go to target pace right from the start and try holding steady there. Other courses might require a different approach. I hope you can take care of what ails your back.
DW - Nice 5k & report. Thanks for your comments on mine. It's nice when a plan comes together.
Cfarr - Thank you. Good job getting to 40+ again.
As always, apologies if I've missed someone or something big.
I ran 6 today and felt a little better than yesterday, when I cut an intended 5-mile run short at just over 4. I'm completing my volunteer requirement for the NYCM 9+1 this Sunday - at least I won't be worrying too much about the weather for that race.
5k 23:48.45 (3/22); 4M 31:26 (2/22); 5M 38:55 (11/23); 10k 49:24 (10/22); 10M 1:29:33 (2/24); Half 1:48:32 (10/22); Marathon 4:29:58 (11/23)Upcoming races: Running is Back 10k, 5/12; Greta's Run 5k, 5/19
Hot Weather Complainer
Flavio - Yep, I had a session with my coach last night and he said this will be great for my legs. He also told me to forget about a PR attempt at Southern Lakes, mainly because I'll have missed the biggest 2-3 weeks of workouts. My plan is to take it as it comes, nothing too silly and then hope things suddenly click in the last 2 weeks. I have a big base and it's a downhill course, so I might surprise him. I was thinking I could smash a PR by several minutes but that hope is long gone. At least if I run it easy I can avoid the * in my signature.
I got my text telling me I can stop isolating this morning. I feel much better but still not great. I might try a jog tomorrow. I took another test this morning just to see, even though it's not required, and I'm still positive. So I'll be a bit cautious about going out too much.
5km: 18:34 11/23 │ 10km: 39:10 8/23 │ HM: 1:26:48 9/23 │ M: 3:34:49 6/23
2024 Races:
Motorway Half Marathon February 25, 2024 1:29:55
Christchurch Half-Marathon April 21, 2024 1:27:34
Selwyn Marathon June 2, 2024
Dunedin Half Marathon September 15, 2024
Fred - honestly June is pretty great weather for racing here as long as you don't cop a storm, and - in the South Island - as long as there hasn't been any ice accumulate overnight. A few places can drop below freezing overnight, but in most parts of the country you can bank on morning temps of somewhere between 40 and 55F. But for some reason all the races get jammed into April/May or Sept-Nov.
Steve - yeah I think just go in to Southern Lakes with no expectations. You never know what might happen but don't put any pressure on yourself. Hopefully you are good to go very soon. Honestly I'm doing my utmost to dodge it until after Southern Lakes.
3,000m: 9:07.7 (Nov-21) | 5,000m: 15:39 (Dec-19) | 10,000m: 32:34 (Mar-20)
10km: 33:15 (Sep-19) | HM: 1:09:41 (May-21)* | FM: 2:41:41 (Oct-20)
* Net downhill course
Last race: Waterfront HM, 7 Apr, 1:15:48
Up next: Runway5, 4 May
"CONSISTENCY IS KING"
Cobra Commander Keen
Flavio - I primarily based it on the workout one week prior to that mile @10k effort workout. Perhaps that was just a one-off "I felt super great" workout, but I was hitting a good deal faster paces at the same effort. Heck, I essentially averaged my 10k pace from last November for 7.8 miles without killing myself.
Hashiritai - Ha! I've not done any runs with pig tails, but have had painted fingernails on an occasion or two, though.
Steve - A text that you can stop isolating? How kind of them. How're you feeling overall?
5k: 17:58 11/22 │ 10k: 37:55 9/21 │ HM: 1:23:22 4/22 │ M: 2:56:05 12/22
Upcoming Races:
OKC Memorial 5k - April 27
Bun Run 5k - May 4
Keen I notice your Prs are similar to my 50+ ones I set last year. My strongest performance is my 10k. Probably as my mileage wasn't enough to hold me in the half. I was averaging a bit over 50 mpw and didn't do enough long runs.
I think you can go sub 1.23 with some competition. I just saw that workout you did. That was really strong.
Steve I hope you are feeling better. No change for me unfortunately. I get very tired and still chesty at times.
I'm running a bit and doing weights on the non running days.
Mark I just saw a review on the Streakfly after 100 miles.
It was pretty bad as the shoe upper sagged out.
It was by Edd Budd on YouTube.
55+ PBs 5k 18:36 June 3rd TT
" If you don't use it you lose it, but if you use it, it wears out.
Somewhere in between is about right "
piwi - That sucks. It's never really gotten into my chest which may be the difference.
Keen - Yeah, if I'd had no symptoms, or very minor, I wouldn't have isolated. As it was, I wasn't able to do much anyway so it didn't matter. I'm now allowed to roam freely while still being positive. My work is putting no pressure on to return which makes a big difference. After the weekend was terrible, I've been feeling better but still sleeping 9-10 hours each night and still waking up feeling tired. I haven't slept this well my whole life! I just feel lightheaded now and it seems to be dragging on but I'm going to go out for a very light jog anyway.
Piwi - bummer it's taking a while for you to come right mate. I might test the Streakfly's out on Saturday since it's a 10k pace session.
Steve - onwards from here (I hope). Honestly when I catch it there's no way I'm telling our government. I'll do what I need to do in terms of staying at home and will tell my employer but that's it.
What's up yall. Sorry the Covid is taking so long to recover from Piwi and Steve. My family got hit with influenza last Friday with another person going down every day until Monday when everyone but me was out. I held on until yesterday when I could tell something wasn't right so I skipped my run (and xtraining) and went to bed at 6PM sleeping a solid12 hours . Now I have what feels like an ear infection so I'm going to do the necessary parts of my job, drink a ton of skratch and sleep as much as I can. ugg.
1600 - 5:23 (2018), 5k - 19:33 (2018), 10k - 41:20 (2021), half - 1:38:57 (2018), Marathon - 3:37:17 (2018)
Zebano - Sorry to hear about the bug going through your family. I hope you (all) recover quickly.
Steve, Piwib - I hope you can shake your covid infections soon and get back to feeling yourselves again.
Mark - Sounds like your climate is not too different from mine, other than the 6-month offset. The correlating months are also among the busier months for halves here, though for some reason a fair number are offered in September, which though technically autumn can often feel like summer. The race I've run most often, the Fred Lebow Half, is actually a mid-winter race, run in January.
I ran 6 today and am still feeling tired and slow. I suspect spring allergy season isn't helping (though I've read that for vaccinated people a mild case of the latest covid strain running loose here shares a lot of the symptoms of spring allergies).
I ran 6 today and am still feeling tired and slow.
Same thing we told Mark, you just raced a half. Give it a week.
Mother of Cats
It takes me 10-14 days to fully recover from a half-marathon raced all out. That doesn't mean 10-14 days of rest. It just means that I don't freak out if my workout times are a bit off or I'm a bit sluggish during that timeframe.
Everyone's gotta running blog; I'm the only one with a POOL-RUNNING blog.
And...if you want a running Instagram where all the pictures are of cats, I've got you covered.
Mark I'm sure the Streakfly will feel amazing. It just looks like they won't last long similar to Next % but worse.
Zeb that sucks. Do you bother testing for covid or is that not considered now ?
I am also sleeping alot. Afternoon naps and 10 hours last night. I guess your body gets tired fighting off stuff.
Fred at least these covid strains are weakening.